Method and apparatus for attaching displays to containers



March 20, 1962 J. M. EICHELMAN ETAL 3,025,648

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING DISPLAYS T0 CONTAINERS Filed Sept.27, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 20, 1962 J. M. EICHELMAN ETAL 3,025,648

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING DISPLAYS TO CONTAINERS 3 Sheets-Sheet2 .Filed Sept. 27, 1960 March 20, 1962 J. M. EICHELMAN ETAL 3,025,648

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING DISPLAYS T0 CONTAINERS Filed Sept.27, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent 9 3,025,648 METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR ATTACHING DISPLAYS T CONTAINERS John M. Eichelman, Burr S.Eichelman, and Donald D.

Towsley, Downers Grove, and Frank E. Moifett, Batavia, John F. Molfett,Hinsdale, and Walter R. Zeltner, .Ir., Niles, Ill.

Filed Sept. 27, 1960, Ser. No. 58,844 10 Claims. (Cl. 53-137) Thisinvention relates as indicated to a method and apparatus for attachingand securing displays, such as advertising materials, to containers, forexample, paper milk bottles.

Many containers manufactured of paper materials for containing liquidsare coated with Wax, or other organic substances, to make themwaterproof. The containers are purchased by the filling company in largequantities with the printing already aflixed for use over a long periodof time. It is difficult, if not practically impossible, to add printedmatter to the container because of the Wax coatings.

If a filling company desires to place current notices on certainselected quantities of the containers, as those distributed on certaindays, or weeks of the month, or on special occasions, as has been donein the past with glass bottles, it is practically impossible to do so.The wax coatings do not allow addition of printed matter and the shapeof the containers does not lend itself to the attachment of conventionaladvertising pieces employed with glass bottles.

The Fine Patent 2,651,852 shows a display device which may be secured tocontainers having the shape of a paper milk carton in a manner so as toreduce the possibility of accidental displacement therefrom. Thisdisplay device was attempted to be placed on the paper milk bottles byhand operation. Manual operation, however, is much too slow anddifficult to keep up with the filling rate in the bottle fillingcompany. The necessary labor for manual application of the displaydevice of the Fine patent is, therefore, prohibitively expensive.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus for rapidly applying display materials to containers ofpaper milk carton shape, in order to keep up with the production rate ofa filling line. It is a further object of the invention to securedisplays to containers automatically. It is a still further object ofthe invention to provide a method and apparatus for rapidly attachingand anchoring displays to containers, so as to reduce the possibility ofaccidental removel. Further objects and advantages of this inventionwill become evident as the description proceeds and from an examinationof the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of theinvention and in which similar numerals refer to similar partsthroughout the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation illustrating an apparatus embodyingthe principles of the invention with one cam removed in order to showthe presser members;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the application mechanism in the apparatus ofthe present invention;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the application mechamsm;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the application mechanism takensubstantially along line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view showing a display attached to a papermilk carton;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a display removed from the paper milk carton;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of the application mechanism 3,925,648 PatentedMar. 20, 1962 iQQ prior to the insertion of the tabs of the display inthe recesses of the paper milk carton;

FIGURE 8 is a plan view illustrating the tucking operation in which thetabs of the display are inserted into recesses of the paper milk carton;and

FIGURE 9 is a side view showing the manner in which the presser footinserts the tab of the display device in the recess of the paper milkcarton.

The present invention is shown and described in connection with a papermilk carton of conventional construction as designated generally byreference numeral 11 in the drawings, although it is applicable to milkcartons generally, and other forms of containers, and is not restrictedto the particular form, or configuration, here shown. This carton isusually rectangular, or square, shape in cross-section with a closedtop. As shown in FIGURES 1 and 5, the top has converging sides 12 whichterminate in a sealing lip, or ridge, 13 joining tog-ether the oppositesides of the car-ton and providing a top seal. Intermediate toconverging sides 12 the ends or connecting sides of the carton areturned inwardly as indicated providing recesses 15 at the opposite endsof the sealing lip 13. This results in a structure having a generallyprismatic top on the milk carton when sealed, with a lip, or ridge 13extending transversely from end to end, and having indentations orrecesses 15 at the ends, beneath the opposite ends of the lip 13. Eachof the inturned end portions, or the recesses, 15 is in the form of ahollow, triangular pyramid.

The display adapted to be attached to the top of the milk carton is bestshown in FIGURE 6 by general reference numeral 20 and is formed of asheet of resilient, or flexible, material, such as paperboards.Printing, such as advertising, or special notices, are placed on thedisplay portion 21 which is the central section of the sheet 20. Thedisplay portion may be approximately the same length as the topconverging sides 12 of the carton 11, so that when it is mounted itforms the top wall of the converging sides 12, so that it is readilyviewed by an observer. 7

A straight line slit 23 traverses longitudinally the the length of thedisplay 20 terminating, however, intermediate the ends. The slit 23preferably is slightly longer than the lip, or ridge, 13 of the carton.At each end of the slit 23 is a transverse slit 24 which extends only apartial distance between the sides 22 of the sheet 20. Slits 23 and 24form an H-shaped design with tabs 29 at the ends outside slits 24.

The sheet 20 may be applied to the carton 11 in the manner evident fromFIGURE 5 by pushing the sheet down over the lip 13, passing the lipthrough the slit 23, the width of the lip 13 being accommodated by thetransverse slits 24, so that the edges of the slit 23 turn up in theform of flaps indicated at 25 in FIGURE 5. This permits the sheet topass down to the base of the lip and to be pressed over the convergingtop sides 12 of the carton. At the same time the flaps 25 areresiliently pressed against the lip 13 tending to grip the latter.

When the sheet of the display device is thus applied to a carton, it maybe anchored securely in place by tucking the tabs 29 into the recesses15 beneath the opposite ends of the lip 13. As best shown in FIGURE 5,the tabs are inserted into the recessed ends 15 of the carton 11 lockingthe display to the carton. To facilitate folding the tabs 29 under thedisplay portion 22 and into the recesses 15 in the carton 11, scorelines 26, 27 may be inscribed on the tabs.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, as the cartons are moved between stations bya conveyer 30, the displays are placed on the cartons and the tabstucked in the recesses 15. The displays are contained in a magazine 41and applied 3 to the top of the carton by feed wheel 43. As the cartonsare moved beneath the feed wheel on conveyer 30, slit 23 of the displaysare positioned on the lip 13 of the carton.

The cartons are moved next to a station under the attaching mechanism 50in which the displays are pressed against the top of the carton and thetabs are anchored in the recesses. The attaching mechanism 50 has amovable belt 52 which is spaced above and parallel to the conveyer 30.The belt 52 is driven by sprocket wheel 53 at the same rate of speed asthe conveyer 30, so that the operations on the displays may be performedwithout interruption, or delay. A plurality of cover members 51, securedto the belt 52, engage the top side 12 of the cartons 11 as the latterare passed beneath the belt. The cover members 51 have the configurationof a hollow prism complementary to the configuration of the top sides 12of the carton 11 so that the cover members 51 fit snugly on the top ofthe cartons as the cartons are conveyed under the belt 52. The covermembers 51 press the displays down on the lip 13 and bend the displayportions 21 against the top sides 12 of the carton.

As best shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the cover members are formed ofshaped metal plates 55 fastened to a base member 56 by screws 57. Basemember 56 has a hollow central portion in the shape of an inverted V.

A slidable carriage 60 at each end of the cover member 51 supportspresser members 61 normally located outside the ends of the cover, butwhich may be slidably moved under the cover and into the recesses 15 ofthe cartons. The carriage 60 may be mounted on shafts 62, 63 whichproject in tubes 64, 65 of the base 56. Springs 66, 67 mounted in thetubes 64, 65 bias the shafts 62, 63 outwardly and laterally so that thepresser members 61 are normally kept outside the cover 51.

Cam followers 68 are mounted on the sides of the carriage 60 and mayhave rollers 69 for engaging the stationary cam 70. When the camfollower 68 engages the inclined end 71 of the stationary cam 70, thecarriage 60 is moved inwardly gradually placing the presser members 61beneath the cover 51 and into the indentations, or recesses 15 of thecartons 11.

From the foregoing it is believed operation of the apparatus isapparent. As the cartons are moved beneath the feed wheel 43, as shownin FIGURE 1, the displays are fed from the magazine 41 by the feed wheelonto the lip 13 of the cartons. At this location, the tabs 29 of thedisplays extend laterally and project beyond the sides of the carton.The conveyor 30 next moves the cartons beneath the belt 52 of theattaching mechanism 50 and a cover member 51 is placed on the top sidesof the carton so as to snugly press the display downwardly to the baseof the carton lip 13. At the same time the presser members 61 engage thetabs 29 of the displays 20, which project to the sides, as shown inFIGURE 7. As the cover members 51 are moved with and at the same rate ofspeed as the cartons 11 on the conveyor 30, the cam follower 68 engagesa stationary cam 70 which moves the presser members into the recesses ofthe carton bending and inserting the tabs of the displays 20 beneath thetop sides 12 of the carton in order to anchor the display firmly to thecarton, as shown in FIGURE 8. The presser members are then removed fromthe cartons and the cover members 51 lifted before the carton istransferred to the next location. The carton with the display attachedis shown in FIGURE 5.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,these are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation. Changes in form andthe proportion of parts, aswell as the substitution of equivalents are contemplated, ascircumstances may suggest or render expedient, without departing fromthe spirit or scope of this invention as further defined in thefollowing claims.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for attaching displays with opposite end tabs tocontainers having opposite end recesses, conveyer means for moving saidcontainers, cover members for holding the displays against the top sidesof the containers, presser members engageable with said display tab,means for moving said cover and presser members in the same directionand at the same speed as said conveyer means, and cam means forinserting said presser members into said container recesses to tuck thedisplay tabs in the container recesses in order to anchor the displaysto the containers.

2. In an apparatus for attaching displays to containers, cover membersfor engaging and urging the displays against the top side walls of thecontainers, presser members transversely insertable under said covermembers for tucking portions of the displays into recesses of thecontainers, means for conveying said containers, means for moving saidcover and presser members with the containers, and cam means forinserting said presser members while said cover members engage and urgethe displays against the top side Walls of the containers.

3. In an apparatus for rapidly securing displays with tabs to containershaving recesses, conveyer means for moving the containers, means forplacing the displays on the containers, presser means for inserting thetabs of the displays into the recesses of the containers, and means formoving said presser means at the same speed and in the same direction assaid conveyor means.

4. In an apparatus for attaching display devices with opposite end tabsto containers having opposite end recesses, presser members for engagingsaid end tabs of the display devices and slidable for insertion in thecontainer recesses, spring means for biasing said presser members awayfrom the containers, and cam means for inserting said presser membersagainst the bias of said :spring means so as to tuck the display devicetabs into the container recesses.

5. In an apparatus for automatically attaching displays to containers,cover members for engaging and urging the displays against the top sideWalls of the containers, presser members transversely insertable undersaid cover members for tucking portions of the displays into recesses ofthe containers, means for urging said presser members away from thecontainers, means for conveying said containers, means for moving saidcover and presser members with the containers, and cam means forinserting said presser members into the container recesses while saidcover members engage and urge the displays against the top side Walls ofthe container to lock the displays to the containers.

6. In an apparatus for rapidly securing displays with tabs to containershaving recesses, conveyer means for moving the containers, means forpushing the displays down on the containers, presser means for insertingthe tabs of the displays into the recesses of the containers, and meansfor moving all of the foregoing means at the same speed and in the samedirection.

7. In an apparatus for automatically attaching displays with oppositeend tabs to containers having opposite end recesses, conveyer means formoving said containers, cover members for pushing and holding thedisplays against the top sides of the containers, presser members forengaging the display tab-s, means for moving said cover and pressermembers in the same direction and at the same speed as said conveyermeans, and cam means for inserting said presser members into saidcontainer recesses for inserting the display tabs in the containerrecesses.

8. In an apparatus for automatically attaching displays to containers,cover members for engaging and urging the displays against the top sidewalls of the containers, presser members transversely inserta-ble undersaid cover members for tucking portions of the displays into-recesses ofthe containers, and cam means for inserting said presser members whilesaid cover members engage and urge the displays against the top sidewalls of the containers.

9. In an apparatus for attaching displays to containers, cover membersfor engaging and urging the displays against the top side Walls of thecontainers, presser members transversely insertable under said covermembers for tucking portions of the displays into recesses of thecontainers, means for conveying said containers, means for moving saidcover and presser members with the containers, and cam means forinserting said presser members while said cover members engage and urgethe displays against the top side Walls of the container in order toanchor the displays to the containers.

10. In an apparatus for attaching displays to containers, pressermembers transversely inserta-ble for tucking portions of the displaysinto recesses of the containers, means for conveying said containers,means for moving said presser members with the containers, and cam meansfor inserting said presser members to tuck the portions of the displayin the container recesses.

No references cited.

